Thrombosis is managed by pharmacologic means and by interventional means. These include thrombectomy, and combinations of thrombectomy with pharmacologic agents. Thrombectomy methods include breaking up and in many cases removing thrombus from a patient having thrombosis. Thrombectomy may be mechanical or non-mechanical, and may use catheter-based cutting or macerating elements, saline jets or aspiration of the thrombus.
A treatment method for removing undesired matter such as thrombus from a blood vessel of a patient involves use of an aspiration catheter having elongate shaft formed with an aspiration lumen extending therein. An aspiration catheter may also include a guidewire lumen for placement of a guidewire, which is used to guide the aspiration catheter to a target site in the body. By applying a vacuum (i.e. negative pressure) to a proximal end of the aspiration lumen, for example, with a syringe having a hub that is connected to the proximal end of the aspiration catheter, the matter can be aspirated into an aspiration port at the distal end of the aspiration catheter, into the aspiration lumen, and thus be removed from the patient.